Houston: Sultan Al JaberThe president of this year’s UN climate talks said Monday that the oil and gas industry must lead the fight against climate change.
Al Jaber is the Minister of Industry of the United Arab Emirates and also the Chief Executive Officer of the UAE National Oil Company Abu Dhabi.
Climate activists A major oil producer criticized the decision to host COP28 in the UAE, as well as the selection of Al Jaber as the president of the meeting.
“Nobody can be left out, and this industry in particular is integral to developing solutions,” Al Jaber told hundreds of oil and gas executives at the CERAWeek conference in Houston, Texas.
“Actually, it is the industry must take responsibility and lead the way,” he added.
The latest UN climate talks in Egypt in November ended with a landmark agreement to create a fund to cover the costs of climate-related natural disasters in developing countries.
But observers are disappointed that little progress has been made in reducing planet-warming carbon emissions from fossil fuels.
Al Jaber, who has attended more than 10 COP meetings, led the UAE delegation to the last UN climate summit in Egypt. It was the largest delegation to participate in the talks and one of the largest in the history of the COP.
In Houston, he said the oil and gas industry “needs to rapidly decarbonize its operations … and play a significant role in decarbonizing its customers.”
“The science is clear. “We have to get behind net zero completely,” he said.
The oil and gas industry has been accused of delaying the climate and energy transition by working to maintain the production and consumption of fossil fuels.
The UAE, one of the world’s largest oil producers, believes that crude oil remains essential to the global economy and is needed to finance the energy transition.
The Gulf monarchy is pushing the benefits of carbon sequestration – removing carbon dioxide from the air, or burning fuel.
